Social interaction game

ABSTRACT

A social interaction game is conducted to allow interaction of a plurality of players. A set of game pieces, having a chance element with between two and six possible outcomes is used, along with at least one set of affiliation elements, corresponding in number to the number of possible outcomes of the chance element. The active players are instructed to openly associate with one of the possible outcomes, using the affiliation elements. The players are instructed to interact with each other in influencing the association of other players. An outcome is determined, using the chance element. Based on the determined outcome, active players that have associated with at least one, but less than all, of the possible outcomes are retired from the game. If more than one active player remains after players are retired in this manner, the process is repeated, with only the non-retired players continuing to participate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a non-provisional of U.S. Ser. No. 61/111,025, filed4 Nov. 2008, and is entitled to a claim of priority under 35 USC 119.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate to a game for providing socialinteraction in a group of people, particularly a large group, involvinga chance element that assures a winner being determined.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

There are many situations where a number of people are assembledtogether who are not familiar with each other, or, increasing theinteraction and familiarity of the people will be useful for achievingthe overall purpose of the gathering. One example could be a churchyouth group. Another example could be a youth camp.

In these situations, a desirable goal is to provide a game that puts theparticipants into an interactive environment, uses readily availablephysical resources, builds upon natural competitive instincts, andprovides a clear winner in a short amount of time.

Many games of chance, while providing a winner, allow, or indeedrequire, the participants to make their choices in a secretive orprivate manner, so the interactive element is not encouraged.

It is therefore an object of the disclosed embodiments to provide asocial interaction game that provides the desired goals.

SUMMARY

This and other objects are achieved by a method of conducting a socialinteraction game with a plurality of players. The game is played with aset of game pieces, the first of which is a chance element with Npossible outcomes, where N is an integer in the range of from two tosix. Also a part of the games pieces is a set of N affiliation elements,corresponding to the N possible outcomes of the chance element. In asituation where N equals four, for example, the four possible outcomescould be a color, such as red, blue, green and yellow and theaffiliation elements could be pylons or flags, each having one of thefour colors.

The players actively participating in the game are instructed toassociate in an open manner with one of the N possible outcomes. Toenhance the social interaction aspects of the method, the instructionshould include encouraging the active players to interact with eachother in determining the selected possible outcome.

After each player associates with a selected one of the possibleoutcomes of the chance element, the chance element is used to determineone of the possible outcomes.

Based upon the determined outcome, certain active players associatedwith at least one, but less than all, of the N possible outcomes areretired from the game, leaving the remaining players as active players.In one variation of doing this, the active players associated with thedetermined outcome are retired from the game. In another variation, theactive players not associated with the determined outcome are retiredfrom the game.

If more than one active player remains after the retiring step, theprocess is repeated from the step of instructing the active players toopenly associate with one of the N possible outcomes.

In one variation of the method, the active players are instructed toassociate in an open manner with one of the N possible outcomes bymoving to an affiliation zone that is defined by and associated with oneof the affiliation elements. In another variation, which is especiallyuseful with players having limited mobility, each player has a set ofaffiliation elements and associates in an open manner with one of the Npossible outcomes by displaying a selected affiliation elementassociated with the possible outcome to the exclusion of the otheraffiliation elements. In an example, the affiliation elements may becolored paddles, flags or cards.

In a variation of the method, in the instructing step, if the number ofactive players is N or less, the active players are instructed that nomore than one active player can associate with any one of the possibleoutcomes.

Other objects are achieved by providing a set of game pieces, comprisinga chance element having an integral number of possible outcomes, theintegral number being between two and six; and a set of affiliationelements, with one affiliation element marked to correspond to one ofthe possible outcomes of the chance element.

Even further objects are achieved by providing a kit, comprising the setof game pieces and a set of written instructions for how to practice themethod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood when reference is made to theappended drawings, in which identical parts are identified by identicalreference numbers and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a chance elementused in the game;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the chanceelement;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a smaller version of the secondembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of an affiliationelement used in the game, showing one of the set of elements; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a set ofaffiliation elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In a first embodiment, a social interaction game is provided thatdepends upon a very limited number of physical objects or resources. Inthis embodiment, a chance element is provided that randomly selectsbetween at least two results, but preferably, there are six or fewerresults, and, in the embodiment being presently described, four possibleresults are provided. One way of providing such a four-result chanceelement is to provide an essentially tetrahedronal device, with each ofthe four “points” or vertices of the chance element being marked withone of the four results. An embodiment of this chance element 100 isshown in FIG. 1, which is a tetrahedronally-shaped device assembled fromfour tennis balls 102, 104, 106, 108, each of which has a distinctmarking distinguishing it from the other balls. Color provides thedistinction in this embodiment, with a green ball 102, a red ball 104, ayellow ball 106 and a blue ball 108. Another embodiment would be adevice as used in the game of “jacks”, but in which the distal end ofeach “arm” of the jack has the distinct marking. A third embodiment ofthe chance element would be a traditional tetrahedron-shaped “pyramid”having four triangularly shaped faces, with four “vertices” in three ofthe four faces meet. By distinctively marking each of these vertices,especially with color, the chance feature of the element is provided.

In use, the chance element is thrown, spun, or otherwise released, sothat it can end up in a random position that selects one result over theothers. For example, in the chance element 100 in FIG. 1, the “selected”result is illustrated by ball 102, that is, the color “green.”

A second embodiment 200 of the chance element is shown in perspectiveview in FIG. 2, where four spherical portions of identical radius areattached to a central spherical body. The four spherical portions 202,204, 206, 208 are colored green, red, yellow and blue, respectively. Asmaller version 300 of the second embodiment is shown in perspectiveview in FIG. 3, where the four spherical portions 302, 304, 306 and 308are again colored green, red, yellow and blue, respectively.

It will be recognized that there are other types of indicia that couldbe used as results. For example, the numbers 1 through 4 could be usedin a 4-result game, as could the four directions (east, west, north andsouth, or the letters E, W, N and S, representing the same concept).

While not a critical aspect of the game play, a feature that isdesirable is having the chance element 100 be of a sufficient size andwith sufficiently conspicuous marking of the result indicia, so that theoutcome of a result determination using the chance element can bereadily observed by the participants. In the FIG. 1 illustration, thecolors of the balls 102, 104, 106, 108 provide the result indicia.

Once a chance element 100 is provided, the social interaction game needsa set of affiliation elements, with one affiliation elementcorresponding to each outcome or result for the chance element withwhich it will be used. In an exemplary game using the chance element100, an embodiment 400 of the set of affiliation elements could bepylons 402, 404, 406 and 408, where pylon 402 is colored green, pylon404 is colored red, pylon 406 is colored blue and pylon 408 is coloredyellow. Of these, an exemplary pylon 404 is shown in FIG. 4. It is notimportant that the entire pylon have the coloration that associates itwith the chance element, as a colored label, albeit a conspicuouslycolored label will suffice. For example, if the numbers 1-4 or thedirections N, E, W and S are used, it is only necessary that the chanceelement and the affiliation elements correspond in their markings. Insome instances, a plurality of affiliation elements of the same colormay be used to set off a defined affiliation zone, where playerschoosing that element may assemble.

In some variations of the game, players having limited mobility, such asdisabled or elderly players, may be accommodated by providing eachplayer with an individual set of affiliation elements. In one suchcircumstance, and as shown in FIG. 5, a second embodiment 500 of theaffiliation elements may comprise a set of four colored paddles 502,504, 506, 508, which correspond to the chance element, such as by beingcolored green, red, yellow and blue, respectively.

Due to the chance nature of the game, random number generation can beused to provide samples of representative gameplay. For example, bygenerating random numbers between 0 and 1 and assigning the results from0.0001 to 0.25 to outcome “1”, assigning results from 0.25001 to 0.50000to outcome “2”, assigning the results from 0.50001 to 0.75000 to outcome“3”, and assigning results from 0.75001 to 1.0000 to outcome “4”, a gamecan be simulated.

Using such a system, a game involving 100 players was simulated. Usingthe first four random numbers of a first set of five random numbers, the100 players were assigned to the four affiliation stations as follows:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 35 15 30 20Using the fifth random number in the set, an outcome of “1” wasdetermined, so the 35 players at station 1 are eliminated and 65 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 65 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a second round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 16 25 21 3Using the fifth random number of the second set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the 21 players at station 3 are eliminated and 44 playersremain.

With a third further set of five random numbers, the 44 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a third round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 16 1 15 12Using the fifth random number of the third set, an outcome of “2” wasdetermined, so the 1 player at station 2 is eliminated and 43 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 43 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a fourth round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 7 6 16 14Using the fifth random number of the fourth set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the 16 players at station 3 are eliminated and 27 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 27 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a fifth round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 4 7 12 4Using the fifth random number of the fifth set, an outcome of “1” wasdetermined, so the 4 players at station 1 are eliminated and 23 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 23 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a sixth round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 1 4 9 9Using the fifth random number of the sixth set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the 9 players at station 3 are eliminated and 14 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 14 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in a seventh round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 5 2 3 4Using the fifth random number of the seventh set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the 3 players at station 3 are eliminated and 11 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 11 players aredistributed across the stations as follows in an eighth round, using thefirst four random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 3 2 5 1Using the fifth random number of the eighth set, an outcome of “2” wasdetermined, so the 2 players at station 2 are eliminated and 9 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 9 players are distributedacross the stations as follows in a ninth round, using the first fourrandom numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 2 2 3 2Using the fifth random number of the ninth set, an outcome of “4” wasdetermined, so the 2 players at station 4 are eliminated and 7 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 7 players are distributedacross the stations as follows in a tenth round, using the first fourrandom numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 3 2 2 0Using the fifth random number of the tenth set, an outcome of “1” wasdetermined, so the 3 players at station 1 are eliminated and 4 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 4 players are distributedacross the stations as follows in an eleventh round, using the firstfour random numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 1 0 2 1Using the fifth random number of the eleventh set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the 2 players at station 3 are eliminated and 2 playersremain.

With a further set of five random numbers, the 2 players are distributedacross the stations as follows in a twelfth round, using the first fourrandom numbers:

Station 1 2 3 4 No. of players 1 0 1 0Using the fifth random number of the twelfth set, an outcome of “3” wasdetermined, so the player at station 3 is eliminated and the player atstation 1 remains, as the winner.

Repeating the simulation with a further set of 100 players, the game canbe represented in the following table:

Players Station Station Station Station Out- Players Round at start 1 23 4 come at end 1 100 17 43 17 23 3 83 2 83 17 29 24 12 4 71 3 71 6 2320 22 1 65 4 65 20 19 11 15 2 46 5 46 8 7 15 16 3 31 6 31 3 9 12 7 3 197 19 5 6 6 2 3 13 8 13 9 0 4 0 1 4 9 4 1 1 1 1 4 3 10 3 1 0 1 1 1 2 11 21 0 1 0 2 2 12 2 1 1 0 0 2 1A difference noted in this simulated game is that Round 11 produced anoutcome of “2”, but as station 2 was not occupied in that round, noplayers were eliminated.

A variation on the game allows for quicker play. In the variation, theplayers at the station determined by the outcome from the chance elementstay in the game, rather than leave the game.

A set of random numbers was generated in the same manner as describedabove and the simulation provided these results for the game variation:

Players Station Station Station Station Out- Players Round at start 1 23 4 come at end 1 100 13 13 37 37 1 13 2 13 6 3 2 2 3 2 3 2 1 1 0 0 3 24 2 1 0 0 1 1 1In this simulation, attention is directed to the third round, where theoutcome of “3” would result in both remaining players being eliminatedwithout selecting a winner, so the players were allowed to repositionthemselves in round 4, where a winner was determined.

In a second simulation of the variation game, the following results wereobtained:

Players Station Station Station Station Out- Players Round at start 1 23 4 come at end 1 100 18 58 18 6 4 6 2 6 3 0 1 2 1 3 3 3 2 0 0 1 1 2 4 20 1 0 1 3 2 5 2 1 0 0 1 4 1As before, this game contained a round (the fourth round in this case),where the outcome of “3” would result in both remaining players beingeliminated without selecting a winner, so the players were allowed toreposition themselves in round 5, where a winner was determined.

While the above examples of game play are illustrative of truly randomgame play, the inventor's experience is that, in practice, the openopportunity for each player to affiliate with colleagues at a particularstation, or, conversely, to disassociate with others by choosing adifferent station, opens up the social interaction and “breaks the ice”even among players who are previously not acquainted. The chanceelement, with its inherently depersonalized nature, stands in starkcontrast to the extremely personalized group of participants. Toemphasize this even further, a desirable aspect of the game play is toprovide a distinct time period between throws of the chance element, sothat each player may observe the actions of the others.

1. A method of conducting a social interaction game with a plurality ofplayers, the method comprising the steps of: providing a set of gamepieces comprising a chance element with N possible outcomes, where N isan integer in the range of from two to six; and a set of N affiliationelements, corresponding to the N possible outcomes of the chanceelement; instructing the players actively participating in the game toeach associate in an open manner with one of the N possible outcomes;determining one of the N possible outcomes, using the chance element;retiring from the game the active players associated with at least one,but less than all, of the N possible outcomes, based upon the determinedoutcome, leaving the remaining players as active players; and if morethan one active player remains at the end of the retiring step,repeating the process from the step of instructing the active players.2. The method of claim 1, wherein: in the retiring step, all activeplayers associated with the determined outcome are retired from thegame.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein: in the retiring step, allactive players not associated with the determined outcome are retiredfrom the game.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein: N is equal to four. 5.The method of claim 3, wherein: N is equal to four.
 6. The method ofclaim 2, wherein: in the instructing step, each active player associatesin an open manner with one of the N possible outcomes by moving to anaffiliation zone defined by and associated with one of the affiliationelements.
 7. The method of claim 3, wherein: in the instructing step,each active player associates in an open manner with one of the Npossible outcomes by moving to an affiliation zone defined by andassociated with one of the affiliation elements.
 8. The method of claim2, wherein: in the instructing step, each active player has a set of theaffiliation elements and associates in an open manner with one of the Npossible outcomes by displaying a selected affiliation elementassociated with the possible outcome to the exclusion of the otheraffiliation elements.
 9. The method of claim 3, wherein: in theinstructing step, each active player has a set of the affiliationelements and associates in an open manner with one of the N possibleoutcomes by displaying a selected affiliation element associated withthe possible outcome to the exclusion of the other affiliation elements.10. The method of claim 1, wherein: the instructing step includesencouraging the active players to interact with each other inassociating in an open manner with one of the possible outcomes.
 11. Themethod of claim 2, wherein: the instructing step includes encouragingthe active players to interact with each other in associating in an openmanner with one of the possible outcomes.
 12. The method of claim 3,wherein: the instructing step includes encouraging the active players tointeract with each other in associating in an open manner with one ofthe possible outcomes.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein: theinstructing step includes, when the number of active players is N orless, instructing the active players that no more than one active playercan associate with any one of the possible outcomes.
 14. The method ofclaim 2, wherein: the instructing step includes, when the number ofactive players is N or less, instructing the active players that no morethan one active player can associate with any one of the possibleoutcomes.
 15. The method of claim 3, wherein: the instructing stepincludes, when the number of active players is N or less, instructingthe active players that no more than one active player can associatewith any one of the possible outcomes.
 16. A set of game pieces forpracticing the method of claim 1, comprising: a chance element havingfour possible outcomes; and a set of four affiliation elements, eachaffiliation element marked to be associated with one of the fourpossible outcomes.
 17. A kit, comprising: the set of game pieces ofclaim 10; and a set of written instructions describing the method ofclaim 1.